Pacific Institute for Climate Studieshttp://www.desmogblog.com/taxonomy/term/7660/all
enNew Report: CCPA and the Wilderness Committee on BC's "Reckless" Desire to Frackhttp://www.desmogblog.com/new-report-ccpa-and-wilderness-committee-bc-s-reckless-desire-frack
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/Screen%20shot%202011-11-09%20at%209.57.36%20PM.png?itok=lVv2e5H6" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>If British Columbia wants to pursue economic, environmental and human health then the province must slow its furious pace of unconventional gas production, says a new report <a href="http://www.policyalternatives.ca/newsroom/news-releases/bc’s-climate-goals-hydro-and-water-resources-risk-shale-gas-fracking-industry">released by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (<span class="caps">CCPA</span>) and the Wilderness Committee</a>. The <span class="caps">CAPP</span> report, part of their partner Climate Justice Project with the University of British Columbia, concludes that <span class="caps">BC</span>’s natural gas sector is putting the industry’s needs before those of British Columbians, and doing so with the government’s help.</p>
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Ben Parfitt of the <span class="caps">CCPA</span> authored the report and <a href="http://www.powi.ca/pdfs/groundwater/Fracture%20Lines_English_Oct14Release.pdf">has written extensively on the energy/water nexus surrounding <span class="caps">BC</span>’s shale gas boom</a>. According to Parfitt, “<span class="caps">BC</span>’s shale gas production is the natural gas equivalent of Alberta’s oilsands oil.” The comparison is due to the tremendous water required to frack deep shale deposits, an extraction process that also releases dangerous amounts of methane, one of the most powerful global warming gasses.</div>
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As expanded in the report, <a href="http://www.policyalternatives.ca/fracking">Fracking Up Our Water, Hydro Power and Climate: <span class="caps">BC</span>’s Reckless Pursuit of Shale Gas</a>, the unconventional gas industry enjoys exclusive access to the province’s pristine water resources and the government’s lax greenhouse gas (<span class="caps">GHG</span>) policy. Last year, the <a href="http://www.pics.uvic.ca/assets/pdf/publications/WP_Shale_Gas_and_Climate_Targets_August2010.pdf">Pacific Institute for Climate Studies (<span class="caps">PICS</span>)</a> announced that if <span class="caps">BC</span> wants to meet its climate targets, the regulatory regimes surrounding unconventional gas production must become significantly more strict and forward thinking. But despite such a warning, no meaningful administrative changes have been made to suggest the <span class="caps">BC</span> government is listening.</div>
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Given the favorable conditions, says Parfitt, gas production in <span class="caps">BC</span> could amount to 22% of North American annual production by 2020.</div>
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This steady increase in production will drastically impede <span class="caps">BC</span>’s ability to reach its legislated climate targets. If <span class="caps">BC</span> production climbs to these accelerated rates the province’s <span class="caps">GHG</span> emissions from fracking will double, reaching an astounding 22 million tonnes by 2020. The tremendous atmospheric pollution caused by fracking means that, if <span class="caps">BC</span> plans on meeting is climate targets, “every other sector of the provincial economy will have to cut their emissions in half,” according to <a href="http://www.policyalternatives.ca/newsroom/news-releases/bc’s-climate-goals-hydro-and-water-resources-risk-shale-gas-fracking-industry"><span class="caps">CCPA</span>’s press release</a>.</div>
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But there’s more to fracking the province’s northeast than water and <span class="caps">GHG</span> emissions. If the shale gas industry “expands as projected, shale gas companies will need two to three times the amount of power that <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/04/19/bc-site-c-reaction.html">the proposed Site C dam</a> would provide. In other words, large amounts of publicly owned clean water and hydro power will have to be found to produce more and more dirty fossil fuel,” says Parfitt in the <a href="http://www.policyalternatives.ca/newsroom/news-releases/bc’s-climate-goals-hydro-and-water-resources-risk-shale-gas-fracking-industry">press release</a>.</div>
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“I don’t think British Columbians are comfortable with that.”</div>
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As DeSmogBlog reported last week, the province has earned an <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/bc-tap-water-alliance-calls-resignation-energy-minister-coleman-over-fracking">industry-friendly reputation recently for its generous water policy and nearly absent regulatory structure</a>. Due to the generosity of the government and a total absence of any public consultation process <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/bc-tap-water-alliance-calls-resignation-energy-minister-coleman-over-fracking">the <span class="caps">BC</span> Tap Water Alliance has called for the resignation of Energy Minister Rich Coleman</a>.</div>
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And although British Columbians will suffer much of the pollution and resource depletion, <a href="http://www.watershedsentinel.ca/content/canadian-gas-exports-threaten-energy-security">the gas industry is preparing to export incredible amounts of <span class="caps">BC</span>’s gas to Asia via the Kitimat <span class="caps">LNG</span> terminal</a>. To worsen the overall deal, Parfitt exposes the heavy reliance of tar sands production on <span class="caps">BC</span> gas, making the climate and resource costs associated with the process even higher.</div>
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Projects from the non-gas industrial sector in <span class="caps">BC</span> are subject to scrutiny from the <span class="caps">BC</span> water stewardship branch. However, the <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/free-water-fracking-b-c-government-gives-20-year-withdrawal-permit-talisman"><span class="caps">BC</span> Oil and Gas Commission freely allocates water to the gas industry, often without significant environmental review or charge</a>. The government, not surprisingly, has been accused of facilitating, rather than regulating, the industry.</div>
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In order to secure <span class="caps">BC</span> from the threats to economic, environmental and human health that the rush to extract fracked gas poses, <a href="http://www.policyalternatives.ca/newsroom/news-releases/bc’s-climate-goals-hydro-and-water-resources-risk-shale-gas-fracking-industry">Parfitt recommends</a> a cap on annual shale gas production, an end to all government subsidies of the natural gas industry, that the <span class="caps">BC</span> government explain its climate strategy, and that the industry pay full prices for the water and electricity necessary to support their projects.</div>
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According to Tria Donaldson, the Pacific Coast Campaigner for the <a href="http://www.wildernesscommittee.org/">Wilderness Committee</a>, “it’s time to curb this industry before it’s too late for our climate, our water and our hydroelectric resources.” There also need to be limits put on the industry as well. “We want firm no-go zones established where industry activities are restricted and we want a moratorium on fracking in undeveloped watersheds, pending full surface water and groundwater studies.”</div>
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Parfitt seems to agree: “We need to manage this industry for wind-down, not wind-up, and ensure that while the industry is operating the public gets a fair return.”</div>
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To get a better picture, you can watch this <span class="caps">CCPA</span> video of what fracking means in <span class="caps">BC</span>'s northeast:</div>
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/603">british columbia</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1907">methane</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3220">BC Hydro</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4268">ghg emissions</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5133">fracking</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5137">hydraulic fracturing</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5648">Report</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6098">Ben Parfitt</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6344">unconventional gas</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6619">BC Oil and Gas Commission</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6963">Rich Coleman</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6967">Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7358">BCTWA</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7651">Kitimat LNG terminal</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7652">Fracking Up Our Water</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7653">Hydro Power and Climate: BC&#039;s Reckless Pursuit of Shale Gas</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7654">Wilderness Committee</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7655">Tria Donaldson</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7656">Site C</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7657">Climate Justice Project</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7658">climate targets</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7659">PICS</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7660">Pacific Institute for Climate Studies</a></div></div></div>Mon, 14 Nov 2011 20:16:17 +0000Carol Linnitt5843 at http://www.desmogblog.com